Welcome to my web space. This is a rather boring home page, but I will try to provide you some information about me and my group. I lead a young biophysics and soft matter group in the Department of Applied Maths in the University of Western Ontario in London (ON), Canada. I am also cross-appointed at the Department of Physics.

Research in my group is geared towards the interface between condensed matter physics, biology and biomedical sciences. We are interested in problems such as lipid diffusion, bacterial toxins, membrane proteins, antibiotics, translocation of DNA, peptides, integral proteins, and sugars, to mention some things we are working on. There are also several other problems related pattern formation, and non-equilibrium dynamics. Different sterols, and their effect on structure and dynamics, for example in lipid rafts, are also being investigated using various techniques. Typically, we employ theory and large scale computer simulations. Most of our projects are done in collaboration with experimental groups.

Another stream is colloids and nanoparticles, in particular their self-assembly and separation. To study those problems, we are currently focusing on electrokinetics, such as dielectrophoresis and electrorotation. Those methods can be used, for example, to separate healthy cells from, say, malarially infected ones. In addition electrokinetic methods can be used to overcome Brownian motion using self-assembly to aid transport and assembly of nanomachines.

On the methodological side, we focus on multiscale modeling and systematic coarse-graing. It is a problem without a unique solution, but advances can be made. Our current work involves dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), deriving interactions from atomistic molecular dynamics data, and analytical methods. In addition, our latest addition is QM/MM modeling in biological systems. The focus of QM/MM studies is on biosensors. I would also like to encourage you to take a look at my group's pages for some more details on research and publications.

As said, most of our projects are done in collaboration with experimental groups. That provides a fruitful setting benefiting both sides, forces one to think in a new way, and is fun! If you are interested in a collaboration, please don't hesitate to contact me.

On the more personal side, I enjoy photography, cooking, the arts, running, hiking and biking.

Funding and support